Daniel Sedin isn't interested in waving his no-trade clause with a year left on the identical $6.1 million US payout that his twin Henrik Sedin has next season. The Sedins also haven't thought about a contract extension. (Getty Images via National Hockey League).

Bigger, stronger, younger, cheaper.

Mike Gillis admitted that all needs to be addressed if the Vancouver Canucks expect to return to a place of postseason prominence. Good luck with that. With the salary cap ceiling dropping from $70.2 million US to $64.3 million and the Canucks general manager promising change — which is expected to include the coaching staff — the challenge for returning core forwards is daunting. Play better, be composed, play whatever system will be in vogue and don’t worry that the guy beside you might not be ready for prime time. Hard to imagine an improvement in the 19th-ranked offence and 26th-ranked power play. Or, improving on two wins in the last 14 playoff games in which they mustered but 20 goals.

“We have no choice but to start developing players in the NHL — we can no longer cook them in the minors,” Gillis said at his season-ending news conference Thursday.

Welcome Nicklas Jensen and maybe Kellan Lain, even though the pair combined for just two goals in 33 games with the Chicago Wolves this season. Maybe Brendan Gaunce. With 17 players signed next for for $102,000 US over the new cap, the Canucks can get some relief by moving Roberto Luongo, buying out Keith Ballard and a cheaper solution than unrestricted free agent Mason Raymond. But the onus once again will be on the core unless Gillis makes a bolder play with six no-trade clauses on his projected roster. He tried to land Ryane Clowe at the trade deadline and then made a late pitch for Raffi Torres, but settled for Derek Roy to plug a gaping third-line centre hole. Zack Kassian had five goals in his first seven games with the Sedins but doesn’t yet have a 60-minute game and was more effective when he saw occasional first-line time on any given night.

“It’s tough for a new guy to come in and do that job,” said winger Daniel Sedin. “We’re going to play against the top defence and a good line and Burr (Alex Burrows) can play against top guys because he’s smart.”

Yes, but still targeted? Even though Burrows zipped his lip the past two seasons, he tied Chris Neil for the league with 27 minor penalties. And in the Western Conference quarterfinal series sweep by the San Jose Sharks, a doubling of series calls against the Canucks was a startling lack of composure.

“We’ve come a long ways since I’ve been here,” said Burrows. “My first few years, we really gave it to the refs and we’ve been better. It’s a tough game to make calls and a lot of them are split second. But we can’t blame them because we didn’t do the job and that’s the bottom line.”

A snapshot of a playoff that went so awry was a Daniel Sedin sequence in Game 4. He put a Jannik Hansen rebound off the far post early in the third period while staring at nothing but net and the Canucks staring at a 2-1 deficit. He levelled Tommy Wingels with a hard and clean shoulder-to-shoulder check in overtime and drew a brutal boarding minor from Kelly Sutherland that led to Patrick Marleau’s winning goal.

“I was upset — I was going to say something but he skated by pretty quick,” recalled the winger. “The other referee is two feet from him and doesn’t make the call. That’s the thing I needed to ask him. I thought we played extremely well and probably should have won the game but penalties costs us. We did this to ourselves.”

And now ownership needs to determine whether this is the right front-office group and the right group of players. Henrik and Daniel Sedin have a year left at $6.1 million and left money on the table when they signed extensions. They have no-trade clauses and want to stay, but haven’t thought about extensions or one-year deals like Teemu Selanne to keep the motivation high.

“People keep saying we’re almost 35, we’re 32,” added Daniel. “People really want to stay here and it’s not about taking less money. Is it fair to ask to waive a no trade? I can’t answer that.”

Ryan Kesler had no answer for how the Canucks won just one game this season when trailing after two periods. First burdened by rehabbing offseason shoulder and wrist surgeries and then a fractured foot, he played centre and then wing for just 17 games.

“This year wasn’t fun for me at all, but you learn from it and the biggest thing for me will have a full summer to work out,” said Kesler. “Where I play doesn’t bother me, it’s not a matter of position. The coaches got us prepared and we’re not going to put the blame on them. We’re big boys. It was our discipline. I have faith that management is going to find the right pieces and get this thing back. I want to win and I want to win now.

“We shouldn’t be done. I’m still in shock. We went out in Game 4 and played the way we should have played the first three games.”

Playing 60 minutes would help. How many of those efforts did we see this season?

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